Park of Portofino

Portofino, a World apart

09 July 2016

Physiographic Outline Of The Territory

The territory covered by the vegetation map extends for about 1845 hectares and includes the entire area of the Parco del Monte di Portofino (about 1143 hectares) and the so-called “corridor area” (about 702 hectares), which develops adjacent to and along the inland boundary of the park. On one side, its boundary coincides with the coast fine from Camogli to Santa Margherita Ligure and, on the other, with a line that starts from Camogli and, excluding the major residential conglomerations, runs inland until it reaches the coast line near Santa Margherita Ligure. The geolithological substrate largely consists of the Conglomerate di Portofino and Calcari del Monte Antola; sometimes in association with various types of detritic cover. consequently the geo-morphological structure is quite varied, with a prevalence of bleak, craggy formations and frequent rock outcrops, with different degrees of instability and erodibility. The highest conglomerate peak (610 117 a.s.1.) is that of Monte di Portofino, where remnants of a semaforo vecchio (a former lighthouse) are present. Going South East and partly on the same line, there are the peaks of Monte delle Bocche (506 in) and Monte Pollone (488 tn), which are of lower altitude, but still conglomerate.

Portofino, along the coast.

There is nothing in Italy more beautiful to me than the coast road between Genoa and Spezia,” wrote Dickens in his Pictures from Italy, and no sooner had we turned our backs on the great seaport, but not without a tinge of regret, than it became evident that his appreciation of the Riviera di Levante still holds good. San Martino d’Albaro, Sturla, and Quarto al Mare, the first localities to which the traveller along the Cornice conies, and the last-named famous as the place where Garibaldi, on May 5th, 1860, embarked for Sicily with the Thousand of Marseilles, are a little too near the city not to have felt its influence, but once you have passed beyond Quinto al Mare and reached Nervi, the coast scenery is every bit as fresh as in the days when this fine road was the sole means of travelling along the Ligurian littoral. The fact that our German cousins are in complete possession of Nervi is itself a high recommendation. Wherever they hibernate, there you may be certain to find the most perfect of natural conditions. Sheltered from the north winds by Monti Moro and Giugo, Nervi is a second San Remo. The mildness of its temperature, its luxurious gardens, and the beauty of its orange and lemon groves make it one of the most desirable spots of the eastern Riviera.